The Maine Public Broadcasting Network announced Thursday that it will make spending cuts that include reducing its TV and broadcast coverage area, laying off staff members and reducing wages.
The organization plans to close three television and radio transmitters in Fort Kent and Calais, lay off eight workers, and impose wage reductions of 5 percent to 20 percent as part of an effort to offset a projected $900,000 deficit in its $12 million annual budget.
The cuts, which will take effect in January and are the result of decreases in a variety of funding sources, are being made to avoid reductions in programming or news coverage, said MPBN President Jim Dowe.
None of the layoffs will affect news reporters or the on-air staff, he said.
Dowe hoped the cuts, including the tower closings, would be temporary, meaning they could be restored if the network's financial picture improves in 2009.
"We want everyone who has our service today to have our service tomorrow, and we're going to be aggressive in pursuing more revenue from every avenue," Dowe said. "We're not going to sit and wait for it."
The biggest audience impact will be the closing of the radio towers.
The Fort Kent radio tower reaches about 15,000 people, and without it, those listeners will have to rely on the Internet for MPBN radio programming.
The radio tower in Calais reaches about 28,000 people, and residents there will also have to rely on the Internet to continue hearing MPBN programming, which includes content from National Public Radio and other nationally syndicated shows.
Both Fort Kent and Calais are small communities on the state's Canadian border. All three towers will be shut down around Jan. 11.
"I think there will be a feeling of being disconnected, especially among people here who listen to (MPBN radio) religiously," said John Bannen, director of community and economic development in Fort Kent and a regular MPBN radio listener.
"We have a lot of people who work at the hospital and the (University of Maine at Fort Kent), and a lot of them are probably MPBN listeners."
The closing of the Calais TV tower, which reaches about 33,000 people, should have less of an impact, because Time Warner Cable will still provide MPBN programming to customers there, said Time Warner spokesman Peter DeWitt.
But Calais-area viewers who don't have cable or a satellite TV service will not be able to get MPBN.
"If we can still get it on cable, that will make things a lot better. Most people here have cable or satellite," said Calais City Manager Diane Barnes.
The tower closings will leave MPBN with four TV transmitting facilities – in Augusta, Presque Isle, Orono and Biddeford. The network will be left with five radio towers – in Portland, Camden, Bangor, Waterville and Presque Isle.
Dowe said MPBN's shortfall was caused by decreases in several areas of revenue, including memberships, underwriting, donations and government funding.
Specifically, Dowe said the state Legislature has not increased funding for signal distribution, mostly for transmission equipment, since 1992. In that year, the Legislature passed a law requiring signal distribution funding and appropriated $2.2 million for that purpose, Dowe said.
But the appropriation has stayed roughly the same each year, even though the costs associated with signal distribution are now $3.3 million, he said.
Dowe said MPBN officials hope to meet with legislators soon to discuss the matter. "I think we haven't pressed our case with the Legislature quite hard enough," he said.
Hannah Pingree, speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, said Thursday that she was "hopeful" the Legislature could find a way to help MPBN serve the entire state during the next budget session. She said she was especially concerned about the loss of transmission towers in rural areas, where they might...
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